New Map: Faerun - The Forgotten Realms

[Cainehill]

Originally posted by NTJedi:
I found a bug where if C'Tis starts with more then one province he could start with an extra fort and magic sites. Apparently the starting location of C'Tis is right next to one of those big powerful provinces.

As a result this prevents human players from playing C'Tis in a multiplayer game where players have more then one starting province because the game could be seriously unbalanced.

Heh. This is a double flaw, I think. On the one paw, starting with multiple provinces may give C'tis one (or even two) extra castles with gem income.

But on the other paw - with a single starting province, 2 of C'tis's four neighbors are special Uber Provinces. With even a slight amount of bad luck on the other two (knights and crossbows, say, or one of the tougher amazon tribes), C'tis can have a pretty rough start with nowhere to expand.

Edit : And actually, C'tis isn't the only one that can start with multiple fortresses if it starts with more than 1 province. Pangaea has Hellgate Keep for a neighbor and can start with it; others may as well. Possibly the "solution" is to play with only 1 start province per nation, although C'Tis having 2 uber-neighbors out of 4 still seems to beg correction.

[ May 24, 2004, 02:53: Message edited by: Cainehill ]

[Edi]

The several starting provinces thing is, I think, not a map bug, but a game bug. I've noticed that no matter how many #nostart X lines you have for provinces, it will not prevent the game from assigning those provinces to a nation at the beginning if more than one starting province is specified, and I find this really annoying.

I don't think C'tis starting next to two special provinces is that much of a problem as such, as one of those was a sea province and I just don't see the lizards expanding into the water that quickly.


Gandalf, no use doing the separate maps, those would be too limited. Easier to just wipe the province pixels from the big one and then put them in again but making larger geographical regions (such as the whole of High Forest etc) into a single province, that will radically cut down on the number of provinces and still give a better map, I would think. Making maps of the single sections would be good for maps with limited number of nations, but I'm not going to start editing them separately. The targa files need a lot of work and hunting down the stray white pixels is a bloody pain in the arse, so I'll pass, thanks.

Edi

[Unknown_Enemy]

Guys,

Why isn't there a sticky thread about maps ?

EDIT : and I forgot to say Thanks for the Forgotten Realms map. Nice job.

[ May 24, 2004, 14:19: Message edited by: Unknown_Enemy ]

[Varadail]

This is an awesome map, really nice, thank you very much.
I am at work right now but I'm going to download and try it when I get home (I have just downloaded it here to take a look).

/Off-topic
Dominions is a great strategy game, for me the best since Master of Magic. I would like my heroes to be more "durable" in battle though ;-).

Oh, and hello everyone, since i am new around here.

[Yvelina]

Very nice map! I am playing it as Vanheim, and the starting location could not have been chosen better.

Thanks!

[ May 25, 2004, 00:41: Message edited by: Yvelina ]

[Cohen]

The real problem of this map are the combo of:

fixed sites
fixed start location

This will turn down some aspects of the game like "Ah I know I've to arcane probe this province because I know there's the uberastral site", and ppl know at which provinces rush in early game.

It's possible to have a non fixed startprov map edition? SO we can MP it ... well you'll know where sites are but, at least you start random!

[NTJedi]

Originally posted by Edi:
The several starting provinces thing is, I think, not a map bug, but a game bug. I've noticed that no matter how many #nostart X lines you have for provinces, it will not prevent the game from assigning those provinces to a nation at the beginning if more than one starting province is specified, and I find this really annoying.
Edi

To prevent C'Tis from having a large advantage in the beginning shouldn't you move the powerful fortress with gems ??

Otherwise the map is seriously unbalanced for multiplayer when C'Tis gets this as one of his starting provinces.
+1 for most gem types, an extra fortress and +220 gold as a starting province is way too huge of a bonus to get for day_1.

[ May 25, 2004, 01:41: Message edited by: NTJedi ]

[Cainehill]

I think the fixed sites are automatically visible in the provinces when you take them - no need to probe.

And it isn't just C'tis - as I mentioned, at least one other nation has an Uber-Province with fortress next door also.

Given the way he wants his map (and it seems pretty nice and fun change of pace), it's more reasonable to simply set starting provinces to the default 1 when using the map, don't you think?

[Edi]

NTJedi, this map was made to be thematic to the world it represents, so the special provinces are exactly where they are supposed to be. This is one of those maps that should be started with the default one province, and it doesn't slow the beginning down too much, I should think.

If there is enough interest, I can provide a map file without the special start locations just for non-thematic multiplayer play. But let's see what happens when I do the smaller Version with fewer provinces first.

I think the fixed sites are automatically visible in the provinces when you take them - no need to probe.

Yes, they are. Or are they? Well, you people ponder that...

Just remember, the rewards are supposed to be proportionate to how tough the garrison is...

And it isn't just C'tis - as I mentioned, at least one other nation has an Uber-Province with fortress next door also.

Pangaea starts almost right next to Hellgate Keep, which is without question the most ridiculously overpowered province on the map, and if they get that at the start, it's automatic game over for everyone else.

Man starts with Myth Drannor as neighbor, and that province isn't iirc anything to wrinle your nose at either.

Abysia has Calimport next to it, Vanheim has Sea of Moonshae right next door and and Myrloch Vale one province away.

Just use 1 starting province, I can't help the game feature that ignores the #nostart lines in the map file. I thought it wouldn't, but I was mistaken.

Edi

Edi

[Gandalf Parker]

Im not sure if this is worth fixing. This is about a 3-start province setting? If it cant be fixed for a 9-province start for 17 nations, then Id feel it just needs to be one of the quirks of this map. The map has a great feel and I wouldnt want that watered down. There are other (ugly, less interesting) maps that size available if people want vanilla starts.

-- www.dom2minions.com